There's no place like home, right? Well, that depends on what home is. Is it where my parents live? Where my brother is? Where my 'home' church is? Where I speak the language? Where I feel like I fit? There doesn't seem to be any place that fits more than two of those criteria, so do I actually have a home? Doubtful...very doubtful.
My concept of home has always been wobbly, at best. That said, this is home now...at least for now. China is home. What an odd realization that is. I'm not sure why, but a conversation that I had in the park seemed to seal the deal for me. What conversation? Well, I don't know if I can actually call it a conversation, per say...
An old lady walks by, we say hi, she says hi, and then she starts babbling on about something. I say "Shenme?" (What?) and she tells me to come follow her. She takes us back to a place on the path where we had just seen her put something in the grass. Turns out that the something was a piece of candy, which is covered with hundreds of ants within two minutes. She was so pleased with herself :) She proceeded to start babbling away about the ants, guess my age (she was only two years off) and tell me all about how she's old (she made me guess...always a bit scary!).
Of course I only understand one in twenty words...but I understood. I may not speak Chinese...not really, but I'm at the point where I can pick up what I need to and make due with what I know.
For me, that's what an earthly home is. A place that you can follow the gist of, but not necessarily feel 100% comfortable.
Welcome to my world :)
Location: Chengdu, China
Local Time (CST -- GMT+8): 9:47 p.m. (4/16/2014)
Auburn Time (PST -- GMT-7): 6:47 a.m. (4/16/2014)
My concept of home has always been wobbly, at best. That said, this is home now...at least for now. China is home. What an odd realization that is. I'm not sure why, but a conversation that I had in the park seemed to seal the deal for me. What conversation? Well, I don't know if I can actually call it a conversation, per say...
An old lady walks by, we say hi, she says hi, and then she starts babbling on about something. I say "Shenme?" (What?) and she tells me to come follow her. She takes us back to a place on the path where we had just seen her put something in the grass. Turns out that the something was a piece of candy, which is covered with hundreds of ants within two minutes. She was so pleased with herself :) She proceeded to start babbling away about the ants, guess my age (she was only two years off) and tell me all about how she's old (she made me guess...always a bit scary!).
Of course I only understand one in twenty words...but I understood. I may not speak Chinese...not really, but I'm at the point where I can pick up what I need to and make due with what I know.
For me, that's what an earthly home is. A place that you can follow the gist of, but not necessarily feel 100% comfortable.
Welcome to my world :)
Location: Chengdu, China
Local Time (CST -- GMT+8): 9:47 p.m. (4/16/2014)
Auburn Time (PST -- GMT-7): 6:47 a.m. (4/16/2014)
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